Hasta La Gadget!

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and mighty oaks from little acorns grow. What do these two phrases have in common? Not much, really, but we’d say Logitech’s new line of gamepads have rather a lot in common with not only Sony‘s line of dual-analog controllers but also gamepads from Microsoft. Logitech itself says these have a “familiar, comfortable” design, and that’s obviously in reference to the DualShock-aping style. Meanwhile, those buttons are a dead ringer to the Xbox 360’s candy-like inputs, and the shape of the grips looks to have been lifted from there, too. But, hey, nothing wrong with a little inspired design, and the Gamepad F310 is the lowest end, selling for around $25. The Rumble Gamepad F510 offers dual vibration for about $35, and the Wireless Gamepad F710 moves up to 2.4GHz wireless and an MSRP of $50. You can pre-order yours at Logitech’s site — or just connect one of your existing Xbox 360 controllers to your PC and get the real deal.

Logitech’s new PC Gamepads offer a ‘familiar’ design originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boy, we’ve gone from rumor to hands-on experience in just a couple of days with this thing. Microsoft’s November 9-bound Xbox 360 controller refresh couldn’t escape the clutches of Joystiq, who have put together a neat photo gallery and video overview. That chrometastic new D-pad is clearly the headliner here, and the early feedback is that it works well — it takes a bit of effort to transform from a flat button to the elevated four-way navigator you see above, but that’s apparently a good thing as it means you’ll never flip modes by accident in the middle of a hot and heavy gaming session. The analog buttons have also been subjected to some nipping and tucking and there is of course a new desaturated color scheme to explore as well. You’ll find a shot of the retail packaging after the break and a lot more at the source.

Update: Video now embedded after the break.

Continue reading Xbox 360’s transforming D-pad controller gets handled on video

Xbox 360’s transforming D-pad controller gets handled on video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, what’s this? We just started hearing rumors this morning that Microsoft was planning a new Xbox 360 controller with an improved D-pad, and bang — Major Nelson just went live with a YouTube video detailing the new piece. The new D-pad is a trick new patented design that’s just as we heard from Joystiq: it’s a disc in the normal configuration, but a quick twist raises the crossbars about a quarter-inch, making it eminently more usable. (That sound you hear is joyous weeping.) The analog sticks have also been tweaked to be slightly more concave, and — wonder of wonders — the ABXY buttons are now translucent monochrome instead of colored. Wild. The new matte silver controller will only come bundled with the Play and Charge kit for $64.99 when it launches on November 9 in the States and replaces the existing wireless controller — it’ll hit Europe around February. Yep, it definitely seems like a major upgrade, but we’ve got a couple questions: when will it replace the packed-in controller? What about all the people who just bought new Stealthboxes and got the older controller? And, most importantly, when can we have one to try out? We’re pressing for answers and we’ll let you know — check the video after the break in the meantime.

[Thanks, Bill]

Continue reading New Xbox 360 controller with improved D-pad confirmed, $65 on November 9

New Xbox 360 controller with improved D-pad confirmed, $65 on November 9 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hopefully you had your Campbell’s Chunky Fully Loaded Beef Stew this morning, because it takes a Man to look down the barrel of the G-Mate Mag Gun and live. The weapon just passed through the FCC unscathed, and now it’s gunning for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. The basic operation is simple enough, with triggers, face buttons, a d-pad and everything else you’d need to ape a modern console controller. There’s only one analog nub, but that’s of course because the gun’s own motion is meant to emulate the second. G-Mate isn’t so clear on how that part of the gun works, but from what we can glean, it’s basically an accelerometer and / or gyroscope, which you calibrate to the center of your particular screen with a dedicated button. A sensitivity knob completes the Mag Gun-specific functionality — which probably won’t revolutionize the FPS genre, but certainly might give those suspicious of the Move or too masculine for the XCM Fire something to watch out for. Check out some videos of it in action after the break.

Continue reading G-Mate Mag Gun controller for Xbox and PS3 gets FCC approval; we’d like to see them try and stop it

G-Mate Mag Gun controller for Xbox and PS3 gets FCC approval; we’d like to see them try and stop it originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Splitfish announces power-saving FragFX Shark controller for PS3, PC and Mac

Splitfish announces power-saving FragFX Shark controller for PS3, PC and Mac originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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